章 39: The Rain comes back
|An hour later in the Royal Castle...|
...
"Seriously... What is happening...? How is it possible for rain to appear out of nowhere all around the country?"
Sitting on his throne while massaging his temples, the king could be seen with a tired and confused expression on his face.
Chaka and Pell were both standing beside him. However, just like the king, both of them had the same confused expression on their faces, as if something was bothering them.
And how would they not be like that? War was just about to start because the rain was not appearing in any other place than in Alubarna. However, from one moment to another, torrential rain started falling upon the entire country as if telling the people not to fight.
Were they blessed by a god? Or was this a crazy coincidence?
None of them had a way to know.
However, that didn't change the fact that all three of them were now in a tight spot, as surely the people of Arabasta would want an answer for why it started raining out of nowhere, despite them not having a clue.
Fortunately, It still eased them up a little to know that the rebel army would probably calm down slightly after this event.
"... Was it him...?"
Nevertheless, the king still couldn't completely feel at ease. After all, everything was too suspicious for him to just think of everything as a coincidence.
First, a man with a cow mask attempts to murder him, only to then apologize and say that he would recompensate him.
And coincidentally, a few hours later rain appears out of nowhere all around the kingdom.
It was too much of a coincidence, right?
"Did he mean this when he said that he would compensate me? Or am I just overthinking things...?"
Sighing in confusion, the king looked tiredly at the window from where the man had left two hours ago.
Hearing his words, Pell frowned, before he then shook his head and looked at the King with a face full of denial.
"What are you saying Cobra-sama? How could only one man suddenly find and solve the problem that has been haunting Arabasta for so many years in just a few hours...? It is simply a big coincidence"
"You think so...?"
Massaging his chin in contemplation, the King frowned slightly as he muttered that with an unsure face, probably wondering if he was just overthinking everything.
Then, sure in his statement, Pell crossed his arms and nodded his head in confidence as he spoke.
"Of course, there is no way for someone to deal with such a big problem in just a few hou-"
"Well, if you say it like that, it really seems like an impossible feat..."
However, before he even had the chance to finish talking, suddenly a voice came from one of the windows and made the three men widen their eyes in bewilderment.
"...?!"
"...!"
"Who...?!"
Turning their heads towards the voice, soon the three men widened their eyes, as the King opened his mouth widely at the absurd gaze in front of him.
The one who was at the window was no one else but the man with the cow mask and dark robes that had infiltrated the castle a few hours before. However, this time he was not alone... No, he was carrying someone on his shoulder...
And that someone, was no one else but the famous Shichibukai that had been residing in their kingdom until now as a guest... Crocodile.
"What in the world...?"
Muttering in confusion, the King frowned, before suddenly Chaka moved in front of him as if trying to protect him, and yelled at the intruder.
"So it was you who attempted to murder the King...! What is your purpose in coming back here?!"
Taking out his sword, Chaka pointed it toward the intruder, as his body tensed up in preparation for a battle to break out at any second.
"..."
Pell, on the other hand, frowned slightly as he looked at the mysterious man standing in the window with Crocodile on his shoulders, before he then took out his sword as well and grabbed its handle in preparation to fight at any moment.
"Now now, no need to get so angry. I just came to deliver this"
Taking out a stack of papers from inside his dark robes, the man threw them towards Chaka's face, who was unable to react and fell to the ground because of the surprise, before he then threw Crocodile off his shoulder, and sighed exhaustingly.
-Sigh...-
"After reading those papers you should know what to do... This guy is also handcuffed with sea stone and most of his body is in a really bad condition, so he shouldn't be much of a problem even for you guys to handle... Now, if you excuse me..."
After explaining everything, the man was about to turn around and leave, but as soon as he took a step back, suddenly a voice suddenly called out to him and made him stop.
"Wait!"
"...?"
Turning his head in the direction of who had called him, the man saw Pell, who was glaring at him with a frown on his face as if there was something he had to say, before he then crossed his arms and asked in an impatient tone of voice.
"What do you want?"
"I'm sorry to say this, but you can't just leave after attempting to murder the king"
Taking a step forward, Pell pointed his sword towards the man, before he then morphed into his hybrid Devil Fruit form, which was that of an enormous man-hawk twice the size of the man in front of him, and prepared to lung at him at any moment.
"Indeed, as Royal Guards, we can't let someone who has attempted to kill the king leave!"
Growling in an angry voice as he stood up, Chaka nodded his head, before he then also pointed his sword at the intruder and morphed into his hybrid Devil Fruit form, which was that of a mixture between a jackal and a man, and prepared to run towards the mysterious intruder.
"... Hmph"
Staying silent as he watched both of them, the intruder then suddenly let out a snort as if he was amused by what they had just said before he placed his hand on his face and spoke in a confident voice.
"... You say that I can't leave...?"
Giggling as if he found funny what he had just said, the man suddenly lowered his head and closed his eyes for a brief moment as if contemplating something, before he then opened them abruptly and yelled at Chaka and Pell.
"Then watch me!"
-Swooosh-
-Crash...!-
Then, without even giving them the chance to react, the man suddenly ran towards a window and jumped out of it. Leaving a dumbfounded Pell and Chaka looking in the direction where he had left with confused expressions on their faces.
"...?"
"...?"
Unable to understand what had just happened, both Chaka and Pell looked at each other for a few seconds in silence, before suddenly both of them frowned heavily and prepared to run after the intruder.
"That bastard...!"
"How dares he...!"
"Stop"
However, before both of them even had the opportunity to chase behind him, the king's hand touched their shoulders and snapped them out of their rage.
"Leave him... We... Have much more important matters to take care of right now"
Shaking his head with a grave expression on his face, the king suddenly handed the papers that the intruder had given them a few seconds ago to Pell and Chaka, before then the two of them widened their eyes enormously and started gritting their teeth in anger and fury as they read the contents of the papers in their hands
"This... How dares he...?!"
"Crocodile... You bastard!"
In their hands, was all the evidence of the crimes that Crocodile had been working on during the past few years, and how most of them were in a way related to the downfall of Arabasta.
Be it documents that evidenced the illegal buying of Dance powder, the suspicious mobilization of people to infiltrate Arabasta, or several documents of Royal Guards that were written to be actually working under him... All of them made it notorious that the incidents with Dance powder where the king had been framed had been actually related directly to Crocodile.
And although most of them were not enough proof to call him the actual mastermind behind everything, nor to work as irrefutable evidence of everything he had done as he had probably already burned or destroyed any important document that proved his guiltiness, it was still enough for the King and both Royal Guards to take the risk.
Turning to look at the apprehended Crocodile with a burning rage in their eyes, both Chaka and Pell were about to use their swords to cut him down on the spot. However, before they were able to, the king stopped them with their words and looked solemnly at Crocodile, who was lying on the ground looking apathetically at the three of them.
"Let's not taint our hands with blood. The marines will send him to Impel Down, and they will make sure he suffers enough for his crimes there"
Widening their eyes in surprise, both Chaka and Pell looked at each other for a moment, before they nodded and started dragging Crocodile towards the prison of the castle.
While that happened, king Cobra looked at the shattered window from where the man had escaped, before he then let out an exhausted sigh and stroked his beard in contemplation.
"So it was really him who dealt with all this problem, huh... And in just a few hours at that. What an extraordinary individual... Though, he seemed rather familiar for some reason... I wonder why..."
...
°
°
°
|Somewhere else, in the middle of the desert...|
...
"Finally all this shit is over... Who could have thought that carrying a man almost twice my size while traveling several kilometers would make my shoulder hurt? I'm astonished"
Muttering a few things with an ironic tone, Farid looked at the several dunes ahead of him, before soon a relieved look appeared in his eyes as soon he saw a small house appearing in the distance.
"Damn it, who would have imagined that saving a country would be so exhausting? I'm never doing it again..."
Massaging his shoulders with a grim expression, Farid sighed annoyed, before then he took out a water bottle from his robes and began drinking from it.
-Glup-
-Glup-
-Glup-
"...?"
It was then, however, that suddenly he looked at his clothes and frowned slightly.
His clothes were so ragged and destroyed, that at that moment he looked more like a beggar than the rich guy that he actually was.
"Shit, this was my favorite coat..."
Massaging his temples with an annoyed expression on his face, Farid took off his coat, before he then threw it away and continued walking forward without looking at it anymore.
"Good thing I bought like 9 of those...."
Muttering that as he shook his head, Farid continued walking forward through the desert, as he approached his house with a relaxed expression on his face.
It took him a few minutes to arrive, as he walked the entire way since he was too tired to run. However, as soon as he arrived in front of his door, he stretched out his limbs, and a slight smile appeared on his face while he muttered in a relieved tone.
"From now on, my vacations start for real"
Giving a satisfied smile at his own words, Farid opened the door of his house, before he then entered and walked directly towards his living room.
It was then, however, that his eyes widened, and a slight frown appeared on his face.
".... Again?"
Frowning deeply, Farid ran rapidly towards his living room, before he then opened the door that led to it, and widened his eyes enormously at what was there.
Well, not "what" exactly... but rather "who" was there...
"It took you a while to come back..."
There, sitting on his sofa while drinking tea... Was Nico Robin, smiling playfully at him and resting comfortably as if it was actually her house.
"... Hah..."
Letting out a wry laugh as if he didn't know whether to cry or to laugh, Farid placed his hands on his waist before soon he looked at the ground and let out a long sigh,
"Why did I have to open my mouth...?"
...
-To be continued-
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(A/N: That was rather a short chapter... Either that or I actually wrote it a lot faster than the previous ones, which is why it felt so short for me... I don't know, you guys tell me.
Anyway, it's 4:50 AM here, and my brain is probably already losing neurons. So I will go to sleep)
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